Farro Salad with Nectarines and Corn Adapted from Vibrant Food Cookbook

Last month I received a preview copy of a cookbook called Vibrant Food written by Kimberley Hasselbrink, the creator of The Year In Food blog.

Kimberley's recipes are divided into categories based on four seasons and highlight the best ingredients each season has to offer. The photos are vibrant, not fussy, and make you want to get into your kitchen and start cooking!

Oh, and you know what else is cool about this book? There is a photo for each recipe!!! No need to guess what the final dish will look like: it's all there for you.

The first recipe I wanted to try was Green Rice Salad with Nectarines and Corn. Once I came back from the grocery store, turned on salsa music and went into my kitchen to start cooking, I realized that I actually did not have the brown basmati rice in my pantry as I thought I had.

Note: by pantry, I mean one of my little kitchen cabinets. God, I wish I had a real pantry!

After a mild panic attack, I decided to make the recipe using farro! I also made a few other changes to Kimberley's recipe. The main changes were these: I sauteed corn kernels instead of grilling the whole corn and I used goat cheese instead of queso fresco because I've noticed that queso fresco always spoils way too quickly in my fridge.

Farro Salad with Nectarines and Corn Adapted from Vibrant Food Cookbook
Ingredients
3/4 cups farro
1 1/4 cup water + 1 tablespoon for the sauce
1/2 cup coarsely chopped cilantro, extra for garnish
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, extra for garnish
1 small jalapeno, seeded and chopped
zest and juice of 1 lime
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
fine sea salt
olive oil for sautéing the corn
2 small ears of corn, kernels cut off
2 medium-ripe nectarines, pitted and sliced
1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese 

Directions
1. Cook farro in salted water: bring everything to a boil, lower the heat to simmer, and cook farro covered for about 20-30 minutes.
2. In a blender combine cilantro, parsley, jalapeno, lime zest and juice, olive oil, a pinch of salt and 1 tablespoon water. Blend until smooth.
3. Add the sauce to the cooked farro while it's still warm so that the flavors would combine better.
4. Meanwhile, saute the corn kernels in a bit of olive oil. Add to the farro.
5. Serve the salad topped with nectarines, goat cheese and remaining herbs.

This was a fantastic salad! I liked the chewy texture of farro mixed with the creamy goat cheese. My favorite parts of the salad were the sautéed corn, sweet nectarines and the goat cheese ;)

What are your favorite summer salads?

Disclosure: I was provided with a free copy of the Vibrant Food cookbook by the publisher but was not paid for this post. All opinions are my own.